A Twist in Fate
by ATPearson
Summary: The ambush never happened: Arya is still transporting the egg between the Varden and the Elves, but when Murtagh emerges as a Dragon Rider Brom is left with no choice but to introduce Eragon into the conflict he desperately wished to avoid.
1. Roran's Wedding

**Prologue**

It was a dimly moonlit night as three elves, mounted on lithe silver steeds, made their way through a clearing in the forest. The winds shifted.

In an alternate universe, this change would have alerted them to an ambush that would leave two of them dead and the survivor a prisoner of their attackers. In this world, however, there would be no such ambush. Instead the night passed peacefully, and the elves made their journey to the enchanted forest of Ellesmera safely, as they had a hundred times previously.

* * *

 **Chapter One**

The village of Carvahall was bustling with commotion. The women of the town were preparing a feast of breads, cheeses and meats. The men were engaged in a wider variety of tasks: some were putting the finishing touches to a modest but solid house on the outskirts of the village, some were sweeping the green in the centre of the town of leaves and animal droppings, some were chopping firewood. At the centre of all of this, the woman known as Birgit was issuing orders.

Two young men were washing in the river which bordered the village.

"I feel guilty, cleaning myself when everyone else is working." The taller one remarked.

"There wouldn't be half as much work if you hadn't insisted upon getting married within a week of Sloan giving his consent!" his companion laughed.

"Well… you heard what Gertrude said. Winter will strike soon. We could not have waited any longer or the wedding would have been after the snows fell. And you know how much Katrina wanted an open-air wedding."

"Plus, Roran, you can't wait to sleep with her."

Roran blushed. "Well, that too. But Katrina really did want to get married in the village green."

After a brief silence, during which they both finished scrubbing themselves and started changing into hitherto unworn clothes, Roran continued. "I don't suppose you've asked Eilidh how she wants to get married?"

"No. I do intend to marry her, though. After we've pulled in the final crop I'm going to head to Therinsford and work there for the winter. When Spring returns I shall return and ask Hugh for her hand in marriage."

"Are you certain you can earn enough over the winter to convince him you are a good marriage prospect?"

"Quite sure. I know it took two summers to persuade Sloan to let you marry Katrina, but he's Sloan. And, after all, she is his only daughter. Hugh has already married off two of Eilidh's sisters."

"I suppose. Sloan would probably have held me off even longer if it wasn't for Birgit."

"If it wasn't for everyone, you mean. The whole village was behind the pair of you, you know. He'd have had to go elsewhere to find anyone else who would marry Katrina."

"Probably," Roran smiled. "Come on, Eragon, we should find Gertrude."

* * *

The wedding, for all the haste with which it had been prepared, was beautiful. The ceremony went without a hitch, and the village moved with gusto onto the feast. Eragon, partly thanks to having practiced his speech more than a dozen times and partly thanks to being fortified with Quimby's ale, managed to give a toast for the newlyweds without treading on his tongue. As the afternoon turned into evening, a great bonfire was lit and the eating gave way to dancing. As the groom's best man Eragon was expected to dance with most if not all of the women of the village, a duty which he handled with competence, but eventually he found his way to the one he had been looking for. Eilidh wore a modest blue dress; her flaxen hair was braided and topped with the crown of flowers she had caught from Katrina.

"Good evening, Eragon!" she greeted him with a smile.

He grinned back at her. "You look beautiful."

She blushed and looked down for a moment. "Thank you. It was rather hurried, you know."

"Yes, well," Eragon sighed. "You know Sloan only gave permission for the wedding last Friday. And Katrina really wanted an outdoor wedding."

"Did she?" Eilidh wondered. "I suppose I would too. Although this is a bit late in the year for my liking. I think I'd like a Spring wedding."

Eragon felt his mouth become dry. "You… you would?"

"Oh yes." Eilidh was looking slightly distracted.

Eragon felt his reply surging its way up through him, before dying on his tongue. He shook himself, and with an effort of will forced the words out. "Perhaps… this coming Spring?"

Her eyes widened slightly, and her lips moved into a silent gasp. Eragon was intently waiting for her answer, when he felt a hand grasp him on the shoulder. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" asked the deep voice of Brom, the village storyteller.

Eragon was torn. He very much liked and respected Brom, but at this moment he wanted nothing more than to punch Brom in the face. Restraining himself, he turned his neck and, gritting his teeth, uttered the necessary "No, of course not."

"Oh good," Brom answered, "because I have an – ah – business proposition I would like to discuss with you."

"Oh," Eragon said. "I'm afraid that within the week I had intended to head to Therinsford, in order to work at the mill there over the winter."

Brom looked steely. "Whatever wage you would earn there, I'll beat it."

"Really? In that case, I would be delighted to discuss it with you. But tomorrow morning would be a better time to discuss it, when we are not so inebriated."

"Very well," Brom replied. "I shall take up no more of your evening." With that, he strolled off, towards his hut at the northern edge of the village.

"What do you suppose he wants of you?" Eilidh asked.

"I don't know. Perhaps he was just drunk?" Eragon suggested.

"I do wonder how a bard could be rich enough to outbid the mill," Eilidh observed. "Still, it would only be polite to at least visit him tomorrow."

"Very well." Eragon declared. "Tomorrow I shall visit him to find out what he wants. And after that…"

Eilidh raised an eyebrow.

"…I shall visit your father, bringing a whole doe, and I shall tell him that I want to marry you."

She kissed him, and for a moment Eragon was consumed by fire.

* * *

 **AN: Welcome to the story! This isn't the first fanfic I've written, but it is the first I've uploaded to the internet, so this is all very exciting.**

 **My original draft started with the elves being ambushed and Glenwing killed, but I couldn't think of a plausible way to have this happen while Arya and Faolin survived with the egg, unless I gave someone the idiot ball. So you should imagine that instead of going after the egg, Durza was instead practising his torture skills or something.**

 **There are two, and only two, changes that I intend to make in terms of the background. The first is, as you have already seen, there was no ambush. The second is that I'm pushing back Galbatorix's discovery of the Name of Names, because it rather ruins the story when the antagonist comes along half-way through and easily kills everyone. I may make further background changes, and the changes I have already made will have substantial run-on effects, but my hope is to leave it at that. The result will (hopefully) be something fairly different from the original story, but recognisably from a very similar universe. For example, the existence of Eilidh (who should be assumed to have been in the background of the original novels) and the survival of Faolin will greatly affect the interaction between Eragon and Arya.**

 **Finally: I know it's a cliché, but please review! It will really encourage me to know that people are reading and (fingers crossed!) enjoying my fanfic.**


	2. A Bartered Bride

**Chapter Two**

As promised, the next morning Eragon went around to Brom's house.

The door opened slightly, and Brom peeked around the edge. He smiled. "Ah! Eragon! Excellent!" He pulled the door fully open, and stood aside to welcome Eragon in. Eragon followed him into a spartanly furnished room: there were two chairs, a bed, a stove, a single wooden chest, and a mirror. Briefly, Eragon wondered why someone who had no other luxuries would keep the mirror around.

"You can put that deer over there. By the way, why _do_ you have a deer with you?"

Eragon hefted the deer carcass off his back and placed it where Brom had indicated. "I have another person to meet later."

Brom opened his chest to pull out his pipe. "Is this none of my business?"

"No, although it is rather personal," Eragon admitted. "I'm… I'm visiting Hugh, in order to ask to marry Eilidh."

Brom snorted. "About time! Hasn't that been sewn up for the past six moons?"

"Well, I would have asked sooner, but as you know it would be improper for me to ask for her hand in marriage until Roran was married." Eragon sat on one of the chairs.

Brom sat in the other. "I wouldn't actually. You should remember that while you grew up in this village and its customs, I come from a very distant place where people have different duties."

"Is that so? You always seemed to be as old as the village itself!"

"I am old, it is true, but I have not lived here even as long as you have." At Eragon's look of surprise, Brom quickly continued. "Not by much – a few months fewer, perhaps – but I was already an old man when I arrived here. Which, incidentally, is why I asked you to come."

Eragon settled into his seat.

"Before I pass on, I wish to visit once more a place where I once lived. It is not an especially dangerous journey, but I would be safer with a younger man to accompany me."

Eragon grimaced. "But why me? I have no skill at fighting."

Brom tapped his nose. "True, but no-one else need know that. An old man is no threat, but two men might be. Besides which, my concern is not that we may be waylaid by bandits; there are simply very many things which are easier with two people than one."

"But still, why me? There are plenty of young men around Carvahall."

"I happen to enjoy your company. Humour an old man."

Eragon smiled slightly. "Fair enough. How far would we be travelling?"

"I would expect to be gone all of the winter."

"Right. I wondered because, as I think I mentioned last night, I was planning to work at the mill in Therinsford over the winter."

"And as I said, I will beat anything they can offer. How much did they pay Roran to work there?"

"A half-shilling every day." Eragon expected Brom to recoil at this: most men would consider themselves lucky to earn two pence in a day. Instead, the old man did not seem to bat an eyelid.

"That will be no problem. How about I offer you a pound of silver for each month that we are away. In addition, I will of course pay all the expenses of the trip."

Eragon gaped.

"Should I take that as a yes?" Brom asked.

Shaking himself, Eragon replied. "Forgive me for asking, but you do not seem like the kind of man who has that vast amount of wealth. How do you intend to actually pay such a wage."

Brom shrugged slightly. "I have wealth stored there. And you would be surprised at what I possess here." He thrust his right hand in front of Eragon: it wore a ring, engraved with runes and bearing the most astonishing beautiful jewel Eragon had ever seen.

Eragon forced himself to avoid looking too impressed. "Why do you want to go during the winter? Would not the Spring or Summer be a far better time to travel?"

"That is true. However, I feel an urge to do this soon. Besides which, Gertrude has told me that this will be a mild winter, and I've not known her be wrong before."

"Um… I don't want to say I will definitely do it, but I'm definitely interested. Is there a time when you need to know my decision?"

Brom smiled. "No. Just bear in mind that we'll probably be gone for at least two months, and you'll want to be back in time for Spring to help with replanting your Uncle's farm."

Eragon nodded. "That makes sense."

"Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Eragon shook his head.

"Excellent! Enough of that, then. How is Garrow? He's well, I hope!"

* * *

Perhaps an hour later, Eragon stumbled out of Brom's hut, his head buzzing in the way it always did after one of Brom's storytelling sessions. After taking a moment to gather himself, he set off towards Hugh's house. Hugh was the village baker, and so had found it convenient to live right next to the river where there was easy access to water in case his oven got out of hand.

The door was open but he knocked on it anyway; Eilidh answered. "Eragon! Good morning, my father's out buying some flour at the moment."

Eragon smiled back at her. "Then I'll wait for him. How are you feeling after last night?"

Eilidh sprang back to let him in. "Fine." After Eragon entered, she closed the door behind him and strode to the table, where she began to knead a pile of dough which lay on top of it. "Have you heard from the newlyweds yet?"

"No. I collected the eggs, and then headed straight over into the village. You remember last night that Brom wanted to offer me a job?"

"Of course. What was it?"

Eragon recounted the conversation he had had with Brom.

"That seems… very generous of him. I'd miss you while you were away, but then again that applies equally to Therinsford. Are you going to take him up on it?"

"I don't know. I'm still sceptical that he can actually pay more than the mill, but at the same time perhaps it would be dishonourable not to help him."

"I agree." Eilidh nodded. "I don't know what you should do, but I trust you to make the right decision." She smiled at him. "After all, if I didn't trust your judgement, I wouldn't want to marry you."

"What's this about marrying?" The doorway was filled by Hugh. He was not especially imposing – his figure would politely be described as "comfortable", and he was modest in height – but all the same Eragon felt a sudden panic. "Well?"

"Um… well… the thing is… Iwanttomarryyourdaughter." Eragon stumbled into a sentence.

"Come again."

"I mean, I would like your permission to marry Eilidh." Eragon tried, and failed, to feel tall and confident.

"Is that so? And what does she have to say about this?"

Eilidh stepped forward to stand alongside Eragon. "Eragon is a fine man, to whom I would be glad to be pledged."

"And why, perchance, do you think I should allow you to marry my only remaining daughter?" Hugh was smiling, not unkindly, but in a way that was nonetheless unnerving.

Eragon forced himself to look straight up at Hugh. "I would be able to look after her, to keep her fed in both good times and bad. I can tend a farm during the good times, and can hunt game when the harvest is poor. I can cook when she is bedridden. Furthermore, I shall be working over the winter and can expect to earn two pounds of silver which I will bring to the marriage."

Hugh waved an expansive hand. "I know this. I have known Garrow for more than thirty years, and I trust that he raised you well. Although I do wonder how you intend to earn two pounds by Spring?"

"There are actually two possibilities. I was originally planning to do what Roran did, and spend three months working in the mill at Therinsford…"

"Dangerous work, that." Hugh interjected. "What's the other option?"

"Brom wants to see his homeland once more before he loses his mobility, and wants me to go with him. He's offering me a pound each month that we're away."

"We were wondering how a storyteller could afford to pay such a wage," Eilidh mentioned.

"That old man has many more secrets than he lets on," Hugh commented. "I don't know why he's willing to pay so much, but that sounds like a much better offer to me. But no, your resources aren't what I'm concerned with. No, quite the opposite in fact."

Feeling somewhat chagrined, Eragon confessed, "I'm sorry, sir, I don't think I know what you mean."

Hugh snorted loudly. "Sir! I like that. No, what I mean is… I am an old man. I have three daughters, but no son. Of my daughters, Marta married a travelling merchant and they are rarely around Carvahall. Irene went off with one of the king's soldiers, and who knows if she is even still alive. Eilidh is my only remaining daughter, my only chance to find someone who will take over from me.

"I have been Carvahall's baker since I was younger than you are now. Before me, it was my father. Before him, his father. We have passed on that role, from father to son, as long as anyone can remember. I have failed in my duty to raise a son to take over, and I will not fail my duty to ensure the bakery continues!" He thumped the table. "That, more than anything else, is what I require of the man who married Eilidh. If Galbatorix himself were to descend upon us now and ask for her hand in marriage, even so I would not relinquish her unless he swore that he would be Carvahall's baker after me."

"Do you think me unsuitable, sir?" Eragon asked, greatly impressed by the man's dedication.

"Oh, no. I have no reason to think that, given adequate training, you would be anything less than a perfectly competent baker. But if you want to marry Eilidh, then I will expect you to apprentice yourself to me for at least six moons, and to take over the bakery from me when I die."

"It would be an honour, sir," Eragon replied ingenuously. "Indeed, since I have neither a father nor an inheritance, I would be most glad to follow you thus."

Hugh frowned. "I will expect nothing less than your greatest efforts and attention as an apprentice. It will not be easy work. You should not accept this lightly."

"Believe me, sir: I appreciate that fully. But for Eilidh's hand, I will do it gladly."

"In that case, the only question is when you can start."

Eragon looked at Eilidh. "Well, Eilidh and I were talking last night, and we liked the idea of getting next Spring…"

Hugh shook his head. "Out of the question. Even if you started the apprenticeship tomorrow, I would not give permission until you were finished, which would not be before the summer equinox. If you plan on working elsewhere over the winter, it'll be almost a year before I'm satisfied."

"But if I were to travel with Brom or to work in the mill, you would wait for me to return?"

"I won't wait forever. But I've got a few years left in me yet, and Eilidh has even more. She'll not want for suitors. If you were to pledge to apprentice under me after your return, I think I could give you six moons until I looked for another young man to take your place."

"That's very generous of you, sir."

"I have to keep the bakery going after me, but I also like to see my daughters happy. And you're in luck because this one, it seems, happens to have taken a shine to you. It was a pleasure doing business with you."

They shook hands.

* * *

That evening, Eragon ate a meal of bread and cheese with his uncle. Neither of them had seen any trace of Roran or Katrina, but neither did they feel any inclination to disturb the pair. Instead they discussed Hugh's offer.

"It is a very good bargain he's offering you," Garrow observed. "You'd have got some farmlands at the next Village Divide, but if you can learn a skilled trade then that's a more secure life than farming. Carvahall has sixty farmers, but only one baker. Only a fool would reject the offer."

"That's what I thought, too," Eragon agreed. "The real question is, do I start with him now, or do I go out to work over the winter? Two pounds of silver is nothing to be sniffed at. I could buy a few cows, and then we'd have milk. Maybe some chickens as well."

"Aye." Garrow said. "And if I were you, I'd far sooner travel with Brom than I would go to the mill."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Put it this way. If, after you've apprenticed and you're waiting around farming until Hugh pops his clogs, and you still feel the need to earn more money and reckon it's worth risking your limbs for, you can always go to Therinsford then.

"If, however, you don't travel with Brom and see a bit more of the world now – well, then, you've missed your chance. You'll never have that opportunity again. Even if Brom doesn't have two pounds of silver to pay you, I'd still say you should take him up on it. Your mother could never stay here, and until you've seen elsewhere you'll never know if you want to either."

Eragon stood up. "I'm going with Brom," he said.

* * *

 **AN: Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter, and especially to everyone who wrote a review!**

 **The next chapter should be up within the next day or two; in it, you'll get your first glimpse of Murtagh.**

 **The "Village Divide" Garrow mentions: it's not mentioned in the books, but again it could plausibly be in the background. Historically many communities would, every few years, redistribute land between families roughly in proportion to their sizes. Hence even if Eragon had not inherited anything from Garrow, I think he'd have been very unlikely to starve. (Sorry if the historical details are boring, but I'm a massive nerd and like to keep things accurate where possible. Just you wait until you hear my theories about how the existence of unbreakable oaths in the Ancient Language influences the structure of government!)**

 **As always, reviews will be very much appreciated!**


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